Otis Armstrong makes Colorado Hall of Fame, Ring of Fame should be next

Otis Armstrong in 2012, shortly before his induction to the College Football Hall of Fame Hyoung Chang, Denver Post

Otis Armstrong, quite unintentionally, has pulled off a difficult feat.

The former Broncos running back already is in the College Football Hall of Fame and on Tuesday was selected for 2014 induction into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He will join Todd Helton, former CU quarterback Darian Hagan, former CU basketball coach Frosty Cox, pioneering sports writer Dorothy Mauk, and former Colorado College three-sports standout Andy Gambucci in the Class of 2014.

Yet the NFL’s 1974 rushing leader isn’t on the Broncos Ring of Fame. Let me repeat that. Otis Armstrong was the NFL’s leading rusher in 1974, claiming a spot on a list of illustrious running backs. And he is not on the Broncos’ Ring of Fame. That’s wrong. My father was the Broncos’ offensive line coach at the time and in the early years of Otis’ career, I lived in Denver during his entire career, and I’ve explored and told his story extensively, so I’m not just some guy who moved here six years ago and am spouting off simply because of numbers.

Otis was the Broncos’ first round draft choice in 1973, befuddling many because Floyd Little was entrenched at running back, but he proved to be another savvy decision made by John Ralston during the franchise’s buildup to respectability. Otis opened the 1974 season at fullback, and even he admits he was no fullback. “Halfway through the season, I was the leading fullback in the league in rushing — and in headaches,” he told me later. Then Little was injured and Armstrong moved to tailback and Jon Keyworth stepped in at fullback. Armstrong finished the season with an NFL-high 1,407 yards on 263 carries, for a 5.3 average per rush. Armstrong and Little were on the roster together for only three seasons — and only one season after Little’s injury-plagued 1974 — and when they were on the field together, Armstrong clearly was playing out of position.

He went on to an eight-year career with the Broncos that was ended by neck, back and spine problems. He finished with 4,453 rushing yards and 123 receptions for 1,302 yards.

It’s time for the Broncos to get over Otis’ ultimately successful legal squabble with the team over injury and contract settlements, plus his fight with the league over disability benefits, and to put him on the Ring of Fame, where he belongs. Any talk of Otis not playing hurt is ridiculous, given the documented problems and pain he had that eventually led to him receiving those disability benefits. And even at that, his eight-season NFL career was of longer-than-average length for a running back.

Otis’ absence from the Ring of Fame is glaring, and he is one of three ex-Broncos who should be prioritized. The others are Simon Fletcher and Rick Upchurch.

Sorry but Armstrong should not be in the ring of fame. He refused to play hurt, was a weak runner at best and even earned the wrath of Floyd Little, having missed so much time due to “injury” Any true Bronco fan who grew up with them since the earlt sixties will tell you Armstrong was an average RB at best.

Mike Klis has been with The Denver Post since 1998, after working 13 years with the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Major League Baseball was Klis' initial passion. He started covering the Colorado Rockies after Coors Field was approved for construction in August 1990.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times. She has reported regularly on the Broncos since joining the staff.

A published author and award-winning journalist, Benjamin Hochman is a sports columnist for The Denver Post. He previously worked on the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winners of two Pulitzer Prizes for their Hurricane Katrina coverage.